I can almost hear a resounding, “Duh,” coming from experienced diabetics and dieters reading the title of this article, but unfortunately for me, I had to learn the hard way. The artificial sweetener sorbitol can cause laxative effects if taken in excessive quantities. In other words, if you have more than the recommended serving of candy or other food or drink in one day, you could suffer from frequent explosive diarrhea and violent stomach cramps for a couple days following consumption.
I’m not a diabetic, nor am I a dieter, but I have been under the weather for the past month. I haven’t had much more than Saltine crackers, broth and toast since April 10th due to a chronic kidney disease. For some reason, about a week ago, I started craving wintergreen, so I sent my husband out for some regular Wint-O-Green LifeSavers. The drugstore was out, so he returned with a small bag of the sugar-free variety.
I’ve never tried sugar-free candy before but the taste was surprisingly good, so I ate five of them (which happened to be the serving size, though I didn’t know this until days later). The next morning, as soon as my alarm clock went off, I was faced with severe stomach cramps and watery diarrhea every five minutes. Luckily my daughter’s school is only five minutes away so I made it home just in time. I spent the rest of the day on the toilet writhing in pain. My old stand-by Gas-X didn’t even work, and that stuff always worked for me in the past. I apologize for the graphic nature of my description, but I think it’s important to get across the intensity of the side-effects.
It lasted for two days straight. Ironically, the same day I first consumed the candy, I stopped taking valium, which I had been on for two weeks post-operatively. Always wary of narcotics (I’m not even sure if valium is classified as a narcotic) I Googled, “valium withdrawal symptoms,” and diarrhea was included. The site also said the effects could last up to “8.5 days” as it has a long half-life.
My concerns were set aside, but just when things started quieting down, all of a sudden I was at square 1. Last night I had three LifeSavers, and I had one this morning, and then a lightbulb went off in my head, “It couldn’t possibly be the LifeSavers, could it?” Once again, I Googled, “sugar-free LifeSavers and diarrhea” and sure enough, forum after forum of diabetics popped up with warnings like, “Stay far away from these things”. Another forum said it would be a great prank to pull on an enemy to give them exploding diarrhea.
According to www.foodintol.com, just 10 grams of this artificial sweetener a day can cause, “bloating, flatulence and diarrhea,” and that this additive is also found in some teeth whiteners and dieting products. They say it is also linked to (or exacerbate) Irritable Bowel Syndrome as sorbitol is not digested or absorbed in our intestines and therefore causes a sort of violent purging of our digestive system to get this unassuming toxin out of our bodies. Because this action turns bowel movements into water, dehydration and the inability to absorb vitamins and nutrients can occur.
I consumed anywhere from one to five candies a day for a week – hardly excessive considering five happened to be the serving, and the words, “bloating, flatulence and diarrhea,” above are underestimated to say the very least. One person on a diabetic forum admitted to eating an entire bag of these sugar-free treats in one moment of weakness and then paid dearly for it for days and days.
For diabetics and safe sweet-seekers everywhere, fruit is the better way to go when confronting sugar cravings. For otherwise healthy individuals, where the type of sweets consumed isn’t an issue, avoid sorbitol at all cost. If the regular version of your favorite candy or food isn’t available, stay away from the sugar-free substitutes. Please learn from my mistake.
